Google Now Encrypting Searches in China

The company has begun encrypting searches made by people in China, where Google has long run afoul of regulations designed to keep a tight lid on searches deemed inappropriate.

Google's encryption of searches in China reportedly will prevent the "Great Firewall of China" from detecting when users search for scandalous terms like "Tiananmen Square" or "Dalai Lama." China could just out and block Google altogether, but short of doing that, the country likely will have trouble controlling Google searches as it has in the past.

"It will be a huge headache for Chinese censorship authorities," said Percy Alpha, cofounder of
GreatFire.org.

Google couched the move as part of its global expansion of privacy technology designed to prevent surveillance by intelligence agencies, police and hackers.

In that sense, it's not a shot across Beijing's bow. Given the history between Google and China, however, there is indeed an element of theater.

Google moved much of its Chinese operation
to Hong Kong in 2010 after getting grief from Beijing about halting its self-censorship in the county.

China's Central Bank Nixes Bar Code Scanning

China's central bank, the People's Bank of China, on Friday decreed that payments made by scanning a bar code with mobile devices must be stopped.

There reportedly are concerns about the security of companies' verification methods.

Tencent and Alibaba, two of China's top Internet players, reportedly received no notice prior to the suspension of the payments. Tencent's shares slid more than 6 percent after the announcement, while shares of China CITIC Bank, which had partnered with Tencent and Alibaba to use the now-prohibited payment process, were suspended after dropping 7 percent.

Messaging App Crackdown in China

At least a dozen WeChat accounts, most of which had posted political content, have been abruptly blocked.

China-born WeChat, which is roughly akin to WhatsApp, is -- like all things Internet in China -- subject to the whims of Beijing's Web police. While the blocked accounts still exist, the content has been removed and replaced with a note saying that the accounts violated WeChat policies.

WeChat enables people to create groups, so anti-Beijing sentiments could transcend a one-on-one chat.